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Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said that his movement supports the
united Palestinian position that calls for the establishment of a fully
sovereign state within the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem, and
refugees’ right to return.

In an interview published yesterday in
Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, Meshaal referred to the 2006 prisoners’
document as proof of this. “There is a Palestinian document and in it
all organizations say they agree to a state in the 1967 borders.”

The
prisoners’ document, also known as the National Reconciliation
Document, was drafted by members of different Palestinian factions held
in an Israeli prison, including Fatah and Hamas. It calls for the
“establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as
its capital on all territories occupied in 1967.”

The
Damascus-based leader said the Palestinian position had received a vote
of consensus during the national accords of 2006 and that this position
is considered acceptable to the Arab world. He called on ordinary
Israelis to pressure on their government to stop aggression against the
Palestinians in light of this document.

When asked about claims
by Israel and the United States that Hamas is seeking to destroy
Israel, Meshaal said his movement has committed itself to a political
plan, which it follows, and called on America, Europe and other
international entities to conduct themselves in accordance with this
political truth, and to judge Hamas based on its political plan, not on
what people imagine.

The Hamas leader also said there had been
several Israeli attempts to contact him, but he had turned them down.
He explained in the interview that Hamas is interested in a complete
ceasefire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but that Israel is
willing to agree to such a deal only in the Gaza Strip. He said secret
contacts are under way with the Europeans and that the Americans are
applying pressure to keep these contacts from broadening.

Regarding
the prisoner exchange deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit,
Meshaal said that it is not linked to the ceasefire and that
negotiations are not progressing at this point. He said the Egyptians
are still mediating and that some Europeans are contributing —
something that the Egyptians know about.

Meshaal said Israel
continues to refuse to release prisoners who have been sentenced to
life terms, even though it changed its criteria for releasing prisoners
with “blood on their hands,” an Israeli term used for those who kill
Israelis.

Two months ago, Meshaal said an agreement was reached
with Egypt for the initial release of some 350 prisoners in exchange
for the transfer of Shalit to the Egyptians and that 100 more prisoners
would be released when Shalit reaches Israel. During the second stage
of the deal, another 550 prisoners would be released.

Meshaal
said he was surprised that Israel rejected most of the names on the
Hamas list of prisoners, adding that jailed Fatah leader Marwan
Al-Barghouthi was on this list.

Meshaal was also asked about
Israel’s claims that he is no longer in charge of Hamas and that he
lost control to Ahmed Al-Jaabari, head of the group’s military wing,
Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. He responded by saying Israel’s views
are like the stock market: Sometimes Khaled Meshaal is responsible for
Hamas and sometimes he has lost control. “I laugh, since they do not
know Hamas or its decision-making processes,” he said.

In Cairo,
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would withhold any
assessment of the peace process with Israel until the two sides start
putting a draft accord on paper. “I can’t speak of progress as long as
we have not started to edit a draft. When we start drafting we will
feel we have started to make progress,” he told reporters yesterday
after meeting Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak.

So far, Abbas
said, the two sides aiming for a peace deal by the end of 2008 as
targeted by Washington have only had “exchanges of ideas, a dialogue
… in depth.” The Palestinian leader stressed that the contacts since
the peace process was revived at a US-hosted conference in November had
homed in on core issues and final-status points of dispute.

“We
are now in a process of negotiations in which we are discussing key
issues. We are tackling questions linked to the final status,” Abbas
said.

“These are serious discussions … between all the parties
concerned — Palestinians, Israel and also Americans — on the fact we
must use 2008 to seal an accord with Israel on the final status” of the
Palestinian territories

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 7:43 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.